1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a terminal for receiving Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB), and in particular, to a DMB terminal having the dual functions of DMB reception and mobile phone call enabled.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently portable terminals permit the transition between operation states according to a key input from a user. For example, when the user receives or writes a Short Message Service (SMS) message, the controller of his portable terminal transitions from the current operation state to another operation state for performing the SMS function according to a key pressed by the user. This kind of state transition is triggered as the controller senses generation of an event such as input of a predetermined key from the user. A device that performs such an event-triggered state transition is called a “state machine.”
Existing mobile phones work based on this state transition mechanism. A DMB terminal, being a kind of mobile phone, is not an exception. FIG. 1 is an event-triggered state transition diagram for a typical DMB terminal. In the illustrated case of FIG. 1, the DMB terminal operates in a User Interface (UI) state 100. The UI state 100 is divided into an idle state 102, a menu state 104 for displaying a predetermined menu, a call state 106 for call termination and call origination, and a DMB state 108 for allowing the user to view DMB.
Referring to FIG. 1, with no key input from the user, the UI state 100 stays in the idle state 102. When the user presses a Menu key to use a specific application, the DMB terminal transitions from the idle state 102 to the menu state 104 to display a menu. Upon incoming of a call or upon call origination from the user, the DMB terminal transitions to the call state 106 in response to the event, for call processing. If the user presses a key designated for DMB viewing, the DMB terminal transitions to the DMB state 108 to receive and output DMB data.
The typical DMB terminal working in the operation states illustrated in FIG. 1 is configured to be in only one operation state at a given time. For instance, upon incoming of a call during providing the DMB service to the user in the DMB state 108, the DMB terminal transitions to the call state 106 for call termination, if the user accepts the incoming call. Thus, the DMB operation in the DMB state 108 is terminated.
As described above, if the typical DMB terminal needs to perform another operation during the DMB service, it transitions to an operation state corresponding to the new operation, terminating DMB reception.
Moreover, if the user needs to call during viewing DMB, he cannot continue to view the DMB because a state transition to the call state takes place to place a call.